5.  The applicant was born in 1950 and lives in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. In the 1970s he participated as a sprinter in the Olympic Games and from 1986 to 1993, he was the president of FC Homburg, a football club playing in the German Football League.
6.  From 1982 the applicant was the sole shareholder and sole managing director of the DETAG investment trust corporation which negotiated the sale of apartments to private investors. He later arranged for some of these apartments, which had been returned by the investors, to be taken up into funds managed by the IHV Real Estate Company.
7.  The present application concerns criminal investigations instituted against the applicant and others related to the management of the real estate funds of the IHV Company. Additional criminal proceedings were pending against the applicant in connection with his business activities for the DETAG corporation and its arrangements made for the sale of apartments to private investors. On 4 February 2002 the judgment of the Bonn Regional Court acquitting the applicant of charges of fraud in this respect became final. The applicant also lodged an application with the Court related to these proceedings (no. 10597/03).
8.  By a letter dated 19 February 1987, which reached the applicant on that day, the Cologne police headquarters summoned the applicant for questioning on charges of fraud in connection with his business activities for the DETAG corporation. Thereby the applicant obtained knowledge of the criminal investigations instituted against him in this respect. The Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office later joined several sets of proceedings concerning accusations of fraud against the applicant (file no. 110 Js 24/88).
9.  On 6 December 1990 the Cologne District Court’s order of 28 October 1990, made in the proceedings no. 110 Js 24/88, to search the applicant’s home and car was executed and a file was seized. The applicant was suspected of having at least instigated a partner of the IHV Real Estate Company to breach her fiduciary duty. The applicant had purportedly abetted that partner in respect of apartments, which had been returned to the DETAG corporation having been bought by private investors at prices far above their market value, into the real estate funds managed by the IHV Company.
10.  On 11 and 17 December 1990 and on 11 and 18 April 1991, 23 and 31 October 1991 and 6 November 1991 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office questioned suspects on the charges related to the IHV Company. In December 1991 and January 1992 the Public Prosecutor’s Office evaluated the documents seized in a note for the records.
11.  On 10 November 1993 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office instituted further separate proceedings for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against the applicant and others concerning the management of the funds of the IHV Real Estate Company (file no. 110 Js 748/93). The accused persons in these proceedings were suspected of having committed fraud to the detriment of investors by including unmarketable apartments in the funds set up by the IHV Real Estate Company, thereby reducing the profitability of the funds. Moreover, they were suspected of breach of fiduciary duty by mismanaging the said funds, which operated at a loss.
12.  In a file note dated 21 November 1994 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that the suspicion that fraud and breach of fiduciary duty had been committed in connection with the management of funds of the IHV Real Estate Company had already arisen in the proceedings no. 110 Js 24/88. Several searches had been conducted on 6 December 1990 and several persons had already been examined in the course of those proceedings. In so far as the investigation proceedings in file no. 110 Js 24/88 concerned charges of fraud in connection with the funds of the IHV Real Estate Company, they were separated from the said file and joined to the proceedings no. 110 Js 748/93.
13.  On 13 December 1994 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office questioned witness G.
14.  On 10 January 1995 M., a specialist in economic offences at the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office, having examined the case file, concluded that several funds managed by the IHV Company would always operate at a loss and that the investors had been deceived about the value of the funds.
15.  On 23 April 1996 the Cologne District Court’s order of 23 October 1995 to search the homes of the applicant and of other co-accused was executed and several documents were seized.
16.  In April 1996 W., another specialist in economic offences at the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office, as did M., on 6 May 1996, submitted reports concerning the profitability of the funds in question, finding that in respect of several of them a suspicion of fraud prevailed.
17.  In a letter to the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office dated 7 May 1996 the Federal Supervisory Office for Banking explained the nature of the contracts concluded between the IHV Company and the investors.
18.  On 20 May 1996 the Cologne District Court ordered the seizure of further documents.
19.  On 8 August 1996 W. submitted another expert report, finding that there was a persistent lack of profitability of the funds managed by the IHV Company.
20.  On 18 February 1997 and on 7 November 1997 M. found that the prosecution of part of the offences had become time-barred, but that there still was a suspicion of fraud in respect of several funds managed by the IHV Company. By submissions dated 24 November 1997 and 10 December 1997 the applicant contested these findings. He submitted an expert report drawn up by the ETL auditing company in support of his view.
21.  In a note dated 7 April 1998 expert M. contested the findings of the ETL auditing company.
22.  On 29 April 1998 and on 8 June 1998 the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked the applicant to submit certain documents, which the latter refused to do in submissions dated 31 July 1998 before re-inspecting the case file.
23.  On 15 October 1998 counsel for the applicant proposed that all investigation proceedings pending against the applicant be settled. The prosecution rejected that proposal on 10 November 1998.
24.  On 8 October 1999 the Public Prosecutor’s Office again requested the applicant to submit certain documents. In December 1999 the applicant initially agreed to do so before the end of the year 1999, but subsequently failed to submit the documents in question.
25.  On 21 December 1999 the Cologne District Court ordered the seizure of the balance sheets of the IHV Company.
26.  On 4 July 2000 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office questioned the applicant.
27.  On 5 February 2001 K., another specialist in economic offences at the Public Prosecutor’s Office, disagreed with M.’s conclusions and found that part of the IHV Company’s funds actually seemed to be operating profitably.
28.  On 11 May 2001 the Cologne District Court ordered another search, which was carried out on 31 October 2001.
29.  On 18 December 2002 and on 10 January 2003 expert K., having regard to further balance sheets seized, found that the funds examined had in fact yielded considerable profits.
30.  On 29 January 2003 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office discontinued the proceedings against the applicant, partly pursuant to Article 170 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (see paragraph 36 below), and partly pursuant to Article 153 § 1 of that Code (see paragraph 32 below). It found that the prosecution of a part of the offences of which the applicant was suspected was time-barred. As to the suspicion that the applicant was guilty of a breach of fiduciary duty, the Public Prosecutor’s Office found that mismanagement of the funds concerned had not been proved, as the funds disposed of assets of a considerable value. There prevailed a suspicion of fraud in respect of part of the funds, as apartments had been bought for the funds at prices far above their market value. The proceedings should, however, be discontinued pursuant to Article 153 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in this respect. The said apartments constituted only a small part of the assets of the fund, so the damage caused had to be considered minor. Moreover, the commission of the offences dated back a long time.
31.  By a letter dated 3 February 2003 the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office, having obtained the consent of the Cologne District Court to discontinue the proceedings pursuant to Article 153 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, notified the applicant that the investigation proceedings no. 110 Js 748/93 against him had been discontinued.